Trump Admin to Refer Maine to DOJ Over Transgender Participation in Female Sports

Federal civil rights investigators have warned Maine officials that schools could lose federal aid for noncompliance.

Lawmakers listen as parents speak about the prospect of their children competing against transgender athletes in school sports at the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City on March 25, 2022. Samuel Metz/AP Photo

The spring sports season is well underway, and Maine public schools are at risk of losing millions of dollars in public funding for refusing to prohibit males identifying as transgender from competing with females.

Federal civil rights investigators sent Maine officials two letters warning that schools could lose federal aid for noncompliance, and an April 11 deadline was set for referring the matter to the Department of Justice.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February prohibiting males from competing in female sports.

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into the state’s Department of Education after a male student athlete at Greely High School won the indoor track pole vaulting state title in the girls’ division a year after that student competed in the boys’ division and finished 10th. The investigation determined that the Maine Department of Education violated the federal Title IX law.

The Trump administration also warned Maine education officials to abolish any policies that allow teachers to withhold from parents information about their child’s gender identity.

In the March 31 superintendent’s letter to the Greely High School community, Superintendent Jeff Porter wrote that he and other school districts are obligated to abide by the Maine Human Rights Act, which allows male athletes to compete in women’s sports and allows school employees to withhold students’ information from parents.

“Our obligation is to follow Maine law at the time,” Porter wrote.

Porter’s newsletter said his district, which includes multiple school buildings in two towns, gets about $900,000 annually in federal funds based on its number of low-income and special education students.

“The federal government is more interested in Maine as a whole than they are with our district alone, given that we have been instructed to follow Maine law like all other districts,” he wrote.

“If federal funds were withheld down the road, the Board would have to decide whether to use emergency funds, eliminate some or all staff positions, or a combination of these options.”

Public comments on this situation were aired during a March 6 school board meeting. The Greely High School community appeared to lean toward the state’s stance on transgender-identifying athletes’ participation in girls’ sports. Only two people spoke at the meeting and were met with applause by the audience and a lack of opposition.

One of the speakers, Mike Perfetti, criticized the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s recent decision to ban males from competing in women’s sports following Trump’s executive order.

“Transgender athletes are, in no way, displacing female athletes,” he said.

The president’s order stated that allowing men to compete in women’s sports “denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”